There are two methods to approach Borderlands 4. One is as a colourful sci-fi comedian e book sandbox the place individuals say entertaining stuff as you shoot issues within the face. The opposite is as a claw-game lottery to be mathematically solved, with gamers optimizing methods to earn prizes as effectively as attainable. Each of these issues may be enjoyable! The magic of an important loot shooter is in making these two approaches really feel like one and the identical.
One participant determined to go full tilt within the numbers path and Excel the shit out of Borderlands 4‘s loot RNG. The end result after 3,000 boss kills, published on the subreddit in a color-coded spreadsheet for all to see, was a legendary drop fee that felt surprisingly stingy at simply 5 p.c. They need Gearbox to extend it.
“I think 10 percent is the sweet spot for dedicated items for two reasons,” the participant, who goes by Siphonicfir, told IGN. “One reason is precedent, as that was the drop rate in Borderlands 2. I think that game is widely regarded as the best game in the franchise, and I am almost certain the community thinks it was the best game for farming. Ten percent created a perfect balance where a drop always feels special, but you never go too long without one.”
Which may really feel purely like vibes speaking, however Siphonicfir factors out that whereas a 5-percent drop fee means you’re averaging one Legendary drop each 20 boss kills, the far finish of the vary means there are gamers on the market going rather a lot longer with out getting something significant, particularly in the event that they’re attempting to farm particular items of kit.
They defined additional:
For instance in my information the longest chilly streak was once I farmed Fractis. It took 96 runs to get a single UAV grenade to drop. The percentages of not getting the merchandise 96 consecutive occasions at a 5 p.c drop fee are about 1 in 137. In stark distinction, at a ten p.c drop probability, the chances of going chilly for 96 trials in a row are simply 1 in 24,703. Going from 5 p.c to 10 p.c isn’t simply doubling the prospect, it’s decreasing the worst attainable outlier outcomes by an element of 180. These outcomes make individuals surrender or give up attributable to frustration and needs to be restricted as a lot as attainable. A rise to 10% would make a world of distinction in limiting probably the most egregious outlier situations.
Time will inform if the builders at Gearbox find yourself agreeing with Siphonicfir’s logic. It’s simpler to make a recreation extra beneficiant than it’s to show off the reward spigot, so studios have an incentive to attend and see earlier than course correcting too far in favor of showering gamers with additional loot.
Nerfs and mod warnings
Within the meantime, Gearbox is attempting to get some weapon balancing points sorted ahead of future content updates. Some gamers have been working round one-shotting bosses for a couple of weeks now, and that little pageant of unintended construct penalties is coming to an finish. The October 9 patch notes detailed a litany of modifications, together with an enormous buff to Hellwalker base injury and pistol reworks. Assault rifles are speculated to get some love a little bit in a while, too. However clock is ticking on these damaged builds too, with some large nerfs slated for the mid-October patch.
We have now future content material just like the upcoming Invincible that we would like gamers to seek out problem/accomplishment in. If we balanced that content material round dangerous gear, it might take away construct range, forcing gamers into particular builds utilizing stated gear.
— Graeme Timmins (@ProdigyXL) October 10, 2025
“Small update this week before a larger one next week,” artistic director Graeme Timmins posted on X. “There will be some changes next week to specific gear and those unintended interactions.” He defined the workforce’s reasoning in response to criticism from some followers of nerfs in a non-competitive, principally single-player recreation. “We have future content like the upcoming Invincible that we want players to find challenge/accomplishment in. If we balanced that content around bad gear, it would remove build diversity, forcing players into specific builds using said gear,” Timmins wrote again.
Additionally, watch out for a few of these in style mods floating round for Borderlands 4 on PC. Certainly one of them lets gamers skip the entire dialogue within the recreation, a characteristic followers are requesting be added in an official replace in some unspecified time in the future to make it simpler to maintain grinding via the marketing campaign. Simpler stated than completed, in response to the event workforce. “I’d be cautious using this mod; skipping dialog could lead to broken mission states that might not be recoverable,” Timmins posted on X. Skip the writing and efficiency groups’ arduous work at your individual peril!
